The women’s choir Sisaruet (Sisters) was founded in Joensuu in January 2015. (The picture above: Johanna Turunen, Arkijumalattaret (Everyday Goddesses), Spring 2017, the paintings also by Johanna Turunen) The choir is led by MMus Tellu Turkka, composer – musician – pedagogue, who has a long career in choral music both as a composer and as an educator.
Many kinds of talents manifest in this choir. The traditional formation of a choir is rare to us. Costumes are different in every performance. Most often we construct a moving piece together based on a theme in question. We have had modern choir music based on folk music, old hits and ballads in our repertoire. Sometimes we perform with a band, sometimes without. In addition to singing, we play drums, recorders or whatever the show needs. The central theme of the songs here is a woman’s life and all its colorful stages viewed from several perspectives, often eyes glistening with tears, sometimes a tear of sorrow, another of joy. Performances done by now:
– Pyjamakiertue / A Tour in Pyjamas (lullabies for old people’s houses)
– Kuu paistaa / The Moon Is Shining (at Art Museum Onni in November 2015, Kalmokuoro (Choir Corpse) sang ghost stories led by Mama Kaber)
– Arkijumalattaret / Everyday Goddesses (at Art Center Ahjo in May 2017, Johanna Westersund’s Arkijumalattaret (Everyday Goddesses) + other songs)
– Tuhmien laulujen tuokio / Moment of Naughty Songs (at Art Museum Onni at The Night of the Arts 2017 led by Herr Doctor Ernst Woipio, and of course this concert of naughty songs is performed in a strict formation wearing gowns that hide plastic recorders in their sleeves…)
– Luurankonainen / Skeleton Woman – dark stories of love (together with the Theatre Vääräpyörä and Hiien Hurtta Ensemble at Pakkahuone) In the picture below you can see a rehearsal session of drumming. The sorrow from the sad and unjust stories on the A-side was collectively cried along Satu Niskanen’s lament, funeral march turning into a heated polska that ended with a cathartic drumming. The B-side was about love stories from both divine and profane perspectives. Couple of gods visited in order to rock Iris Brocke to a wine festival of gods. This concert was the first time I experimented with a choir as a mobile coulisse into which pictures were projected.
photo: Karoliina Kolehmainen